James May's Toy Stories Special: The Great Train Race - Hornby Train

Tagline

Having tasted defeat in the original series, James May makes a new attempt to run a Hornby model railway between two towns

Synopsis

The joy of Hornby remains centre stage throughout as James plans the second assault on the prize. As before his own 1972 Flying Scotsman (with realistic chuffing sounds) will lead the charge.

This time James develops a totally fresh approach to the challenge. He’ll select a crack team of engineers, and he’ll test out new power systems and trains. The key to success will be keeping the trains on the track – so James’ team comes up with a revolutionary yet temperamental track laying machine that almost derails the whole race.

This time, however, the Bideford-Barnstaple challenge contains an added urgency.
It will be a best out of three race...against the Germans.

While James experiments in a humble requisitioned warehouse in Barnstaple, in their high tech base in Hamburg the greatest model train experts in the world are planning to snatch victory from the plucky Brits……

The German world champions will be running their trains in the opposite direction on their own track and are developing secret cutting edge train technology that could relegate James’s amateur tinkering to a poor second place.

The rules are simple. Each side will run three trains against each other. The first race pits James’s flying Scotsman against the thoroughbred of German interwar railways, the BR 58.
The second showdown: a diesel electric duel to the bitter end between the high speed Intercity 125 and the German ET 403.The decider? A race of secret weapons, both powered by revolutionary and highly experimental power systems.

At dawn on race day, local railway enthusiasts construct magnificent model stations at each end of the line to welcome the trains home while town criers , mayors, vicars and locals provide a enthusiastic and vocal crowd to cheer the teams onwards.

The race proves to be an action packed nail biting tour de force. Explosions, crashes and a battle of wits and technology drive the film to a dramatic yet emotional conclusion. Can James’s star driver, Oz Clarke eschew the world of Wines and Spirits long enough to bring the Flying Scotsman home in one piece, or will the Germans win the day?